Convexity of Multi-valued Momentum Maps

Abstract

A famous theorem of Atiyah, Guillemin and Sternberg states that, given a Hamiltonian torus action, the image of the momentum map is a convex polytope. We prove that this result can be extended to the case in which the action is non-Hamiltonian. Our generalization of the theorem states that, given a symplectic torus action, the momentum map can be defined on an appropriate covering of the manifold and its image is the product of a convex polytope along a rational subspace times the orthogonal vector space. We also prove that this decomposition in direct product is stable under small equivariant perturbations of the symplectic structure; this, in particular, means that the property of being Hamiltonian is locally stable. The technique developed allows us to extend the result to any compact group action and also to deduce that any symplectic n-torus action, with fixed points, on a compact 2n-dimensional manifold, is Hamiltonian.